Widely respected, he became the Republic's first Prime Minister in 1912, but quickly grew disillusioned with Yuan's lack of respect for the rule of law and resigned.[1] He later took part in Sun Yatsen's government in Guangzhou. Tang Shaoyi opposed, on constitutional grounds, Sun's taking of the "Extraordinary Presidency" in 1921; Tang resigned from his position. In 1924, he refused an offer to be foreign minister under warlord Duan Qirui's provisional government in Beijing.

In 1937, Tang bought a house on Route Ferguson in the Shanghai French Concession and retired there.[2] The following year, the Japanese invaded and occupied Shanghai (though not yet the foreign concessions). Japanese general Kenji Doihara attempted to recruit Tang to become president of the new pro-Japanese puppet government, and Tang was willing to negotiate with the Japanese. The Kuomintang's intelligence agency Juntong learned about the negotiation, and its chief Dai Li ordered his assassination. On 30 September 1938, Tang was killed in his living room by a Juntong squad who pretended to be antique sellers.[3]

Tang Shaoyi's daughter Tang Baoyue (English name May Tang) was married to the prominent diplomat V.K. Wellington Koo. She died in October 1918 during the 1918 flu pandemic, after falling ill for only a week. [4] Another daughter Lora Tang was married to the well-known Singapore philanthropist Lee Seng Gee. Another daughter from his first wife, Isobel, was married to Henry K. Chang (Chang Chien), the Chinese Ambassador and Consul General at San Francisco (1929)<[5]